Hospital declares critical incident over norovirus

A hospital trust has declared a critical incident due to a norovirus outbreak.

Surrey & Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, which runs the East Surrey Hospital in Redhill, declared a critical incident on Monday due to high levels of norovirus, also known as the winter vomiting bug, and the "significant levels of sustained demand on emergency care services".

It said the situation had become worse in the past few days due to a rise in staff sickness and challenges discharging patients and moving patients around the site.

Temporary visiting restrictions to all wards at East Surrey Hospital are in place until further notice, excluding patients on end-of-life care and in maternity and paediatric wards.

Anyone visiting the site is being told to follow additional infection control measures to help reduce the spread of norovirus, the trust said.

People who have had diarrhoea or vomiting in the last 48 hours are being asked not to attend the East Surrey Hospital site.

An NHS critical incident is a severe warning declared when a hospital or trust's resources can become overwhelmed, threatening safe patient care.

It means demand has outstripped capacity and can lead to emergency measures such as cancelling non-urgent procedures, discharging patients early, and redirecting staff to A&E to manage acute patient safety risks.

Dr Ed Cetti, chief medical officer at the health trust, said: "In response to the continued high levels of Norovirus across our hospital, sustained demand in our Emergency Department, and the challenges we are facing moving patients around the site in line with necessary infection control measures, the trust has declared a Critical Incident.

"We know how important visiting is and we are keeping these measures under close review and will lift them as soon as we are able to."

The NHS said people should continue to use pharmacies, GP practices, walk-in centres, the NHS App and NHS 111 online or by phone 24/7 for urgent health advice.

It added some non-urgent appointments might be re-scheduled, in order to accommodate those patients with the most urgent clinical need.

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